The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals-Angell Animal Medical Center (MSPCA-Angell) is a 501(c)(3)non-profit organization with its main headquarters on South Huntington Avenue in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1868, and is the second-oldest humane society in the United States.[1] "MSPCA-Angell" was adopted as the society's identity in 2003, and indicates the names of its two closely related predecessor organizations: Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Angell Animal Medical Center (formerly known as Angell Memorial Animal Hospital). The organization provides direct care to thousands of homeless, injured, and abused animals each year, and provides animal adoption, a veterinary hospital, advocacy, and humane law enforcement.
Also in 1868, they began publication of Our Dumb Animals, a magazine "to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves". ("Dumb" refers to the fact that animals cannot speak.) The Boston Police Department helped distribute their first press run of 200,000 copies. Influenced by the activities of this organization, the Massachusetts General Court passed the first anti-animal-cruelty act in Massachusetts the following year.[2]
Francis H. Rowley succeeded George T. Angell as President in 1910.[4] He held this position until his retirement in 1945.[4]
In 1927, the society formed the American Fondouk Maintenance Committee in Fez, Morocco, and opened a center there two years later. In 1929, an animal hospital joined the MSPCA's Springfield location, but closed in 2007 due to economic circumstances. In 1935, the Cape Cod Animal Shelter was opened in Centerville, Massachusetts, now part of MSPCA-Angell. The following year, an MSPCA animal shelter opened in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, now known as Berkshire Humane Society. The Angell Memorial Animal Hospital launched the first veterinary intern training program in 1940. In 1943, Angell was first to apply techniques of aseptic surgery to small animal medicine and surgery. The MSPCA assumed control of the Foote Memorial Animal Shelter on Martha's Vineyard in 1945 until 2009, when ownership of the shelter was transferred to a local animal shelter. Also in 1945, Angell became the first veterinary hospital to institute 24-hour nursing and veterinary care. In 1950, the MSPCA opened an animal shelter and hospital on Nantucket, which was operated by the MSPCA until 2012, when Nantucket veterinarians purchased the hospital and opened it as the "Offshore Animal Hospital of Nantucket". Also in 1950, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) in Great Britain joined with the MSPCA to create the International Society for the Protection of Animals (now the World Animal Protection). In 1959, MSPCA President Dr. Eric Hansen was elected first president of the ISPA.[2]
Jean Holzworth, a leading expert on feline medicine, practised at Angell from 1950 to 1986. Together with Angell colleagues, Holzworth authored a number of pioneering studies of disorders affecting cats, including feline infectious peritonitis and hyperthyroidism.[5][6][7]
Angell Memorial Animal Hospital built a veterinary intensive care unit in 1959 that was the first of its kind. In 1962, the MSPCA and ISPA began work to improve inhumane slaughterhouses in Latin America. In 1964, the MSPCA launched "Operation Gwamba" in Suriname which saved 9,737 animals from hydroelectric damflooding and was the largest such project in history.
MSPCA logo, 1921
The MSPCA and Angell Memorial Animal Hospital moved into a shared facility at 350 South Huntington Avenue in 1976, which was the most extensive animal service center ever created by a humane society. An adoption center was established at this location as well.[2]
The MSPCA assisted law enforcementofficers in animal rescue after eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1979. Conditions at Boston's Franklin Park Zoo were improved through the direct involvement of the MSPCA, starting in 1982. In 1986, MSPCA-Angell launched the statewide subsidized Spay/Neuter Assistance Program (SNAP) for low income pet owners who qualify. The MSPCA formed the Center for Laboratory Animal Welfare (CLAW) in 1992 and, in the following year, established the Animal Disaster Relief Fund to aid in animal protection and rescue globally.[2]
In 1994, a new MSPCA facility was opened in Brockton, Massachusetts, and Nevins Farm in Methuen launched the Equine Ambulance Program to offer emergency rescue and transport of disabled horses in New England and ambulance services events involving horses worldwide. In 1994, the society established Phinney's Friends, the first program run by a humane society to assist people with HIV/AIDS and their pets. The Shalit-Glazer Clinic was formed in 1996 to provide spay-neuter surgery for pets of low-income families.[2]
In 1997, Angell established the Cancer Care Center to provide on-site radiation therapy for animals. The same year, the MSPCA Archives Library was dedicated.[2]
In 2013, advocacy efforts led to the passage of the Animal Control Law – the most significant animal-related legislation in decades. Also that year, a unified Animal Behavior Program began with the Adoption Centers and Angell Animal Medical Center.
In 2014, the first canine total elbow replacement surgery was performed at Angell by Dr. Nick Trout and Sun Valley Animal Center’s Dr. Randy Acker, who designed and developed the TATE Elbow system.
Services
As of 2012, the MSPCA-Angell operates three Animal Care and Adoption Centers: Boston, Nevins Farm and Equine Center (Methuen), and Cape Cod. It also operates Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston and, since 2014, MSPCA-Angell West in Waltham, both 24/7 emergency facilities. Together these facilities employ nearly 80 full-time veterinarians including board-certified specialists in fields such as 24/7 emergency and critical care, avian and exotic medicine, anesthesiology, behavior, cardiology, dentistry, dermatology, diagnostic imaging and nuclear medicine, internal medicine, I-131 treatment for hyperthyroid cats, neurology, nutrition, oncology, ophthalmology, pain medicine, pathology, surgery, and preventative medicine.[2]
Angell Animal Medical Center has magnetic resonance imaging equipment, with a state-of-the-art, high-speed updated machine installed in November 2014 to replace the original Angell MRI. The original Angell MRI was the first MRI located within a veterinary hospital in New England and the second available in the United States. This equipment was part of a $28 million building campaign to improve the Boston facility. The renovation was completed in 2005. The refurnished Boston facility also includes the Helen Schmidt Stanton Clinical Care Center and the Copeland Animal Care and Adoption Center.[2] Also among Angell's equipment is a high speed CT unit offering multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT, or multi-slice CT). This machine enables 3D reconstructions of images for accurate diagnoses and better treatment.
Each year, the MSPCA-Angell's veterinary hospital locations welcome over 100,000 patient visits. These locations include MSPCA-Angell Clinics in Boston, Methuen and Centreville, Massachusetts for low-income clients as well as the MSPCA-Angell West in Waltham, Massachusetts and Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston which both provide 24 x 7 emergency service, specialty care and primary care.
The MSPCA has a Law Enforcement Department and organizes the annual Walk for Animals on Boston Common.
Statements of belief
MSPCA-Angell takes a strong stand on a number of animal-related issues and is influential in creating animal-related legislation in Massachusetts. Among the areas in which MSPCA-Angell takes a position are:
Animal Control: a comprehensive category of concern which includes advocacy for the prevention of animal overpopulation, proper leashing and humane confinement of animals, responsible standards for animal adoption, and humane euthanasia of animals when appropriate [8]
Assistance Animals: the society advocates that it is critical that the needs both the animals and the people they assist are met [10]
Classroom Animals: the society believe that animals should only be kept as classroom pets "if they are acquired for the purpose of educating students about the sentience of animals and the need for responsible, humane care" [11]
Declawing Cats: the society states that onychectomy is neither a minor procedure nor a painless one and therefore opposes it being done for non-medical reasons [14]
Factory Farming (Intensive Husbandry Practices): believing "that farm animals are creatures of intrinsic value, complexity and dignity" and that "the billions of animals raised each year in the United States for food, clothing, and other products are entitled to live their lives free of unnecessary pain, suffering and stress, as well as to a humane death", the society condemns many practices associated with factory farming while accepting the responsible and appropriate use of electric fencing to contain livestock, selective breeding for desirable characteristics, and ear tags, tattoos, microchips, and freeze branding (but not hot branding) for animal identification [17]
Furs: the society is against fur farming, fur trapping, and the use of fur in general saying "no valid justification exists for killing animals for their fur, since fur items are generally marketed and purchased solely as symbols of status and wealth and are unnecessary for meeting human needs" [18]
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing animal cruelty. Based in New York City since its inception in 1866, the organization's mission is "to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States."
A veterinarian (vet) is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, veterinarians also play a role in animal reproduction, health management, conservation, husbandry and breeding and preventive medicine like nutrition, vaccination and parasitic control as well as biosecurity and zoonotic disease surveillance and prevention.
Pet adoption is the process of transferring responsibility for a pet that was previously owned by another party. Common sources for adoptable pets are animal shelters, rescue groups, or other pet owners. Some organizations give adopters ownership of the pet, while others use a guardianship model wherein the organization retains some control over the animal's future use or care.
An animal shelter or pound is a place where stray, lost, abandoned or surrendered animals – mostly dogs and cats – are housed. The word "pound" has its origins in the animal pounds of agricultural communities, where stray livestock would be penned or impounded until they were claimed by their owners.
A humane society is a group that aims to stop cruelty to animals. In many countries, the term is used mostly for societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals (SPCA). In the United Kingdom, and historically in the United States, such societies provide waterway rescue, prevention and recovery services, or may give awards for saving human life.
Trap–neuter–return (TNR), also known as trap–neuter–release, is a controversial method that attempts to manage populations of feral cats. The process involves live-trapping the cats, having them neutered, ear-tipped for identification, and, if possible, vaccinated, then releasing them back into the outdoors. If the location is deemed unsafe or otherwise inappropriate, the cats may be relocated to other appropriate areas. Ideally, friendly adults and kittens young enough to be easily socialized are retained and placed for adoption. Feral cats cannot be socialized, shun most human interaction and do not fare well in confinement, so they are not retained. Cats suffering from severe medical problems such as terminal, contagious, or untreatable illnesses or injuries are often euthanized.
The Anti-Cruelty Society is an animal welfare organization and animal shelter in the River North neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The Anti-Cruelty Society is a private, not-for-profit humane society that does not receive government assistance. It is one of the largest such organizations in the United States. The organization offers adoption, veterinarian, and training services.
Devocalization is a surgical procedure where tissue is removed from the vocal cords.
In some countries there is an overpopulation of pets such as cats, dogs, and exotic animals. In the United States, six to eight million animals are brought to shelters each year, of which an estimated three to four million are subsequently euthanized, including 2.7 million considered healthy and adoptable. Euthanasia numbers have declined since the 1970s, when U.S. shelters euthanized an estimated 12 to 20 million animals. Most humane societies, animal shelters and rescue groups urge animal caregivers to have their animals spayed or neutered to prevent the births of unwanted and accidental litters that could contribute to this dynamic.
A no-kill shelter is an animal shelter that does not kill healthy or treatable animals based on time limits or capacity, reserving euthanasia for terminally ill animals, animals suffering poor quality of life, or those considered dangerous to public safety. A no-kill shelter uses many strategies to promote shelter animals; to expanding its resources using volunteers, housing and medical protocols; and to work actively to lower the number of homeless animals entering the shelter system. Up to ten percent of animals could be killed in a no-kill shelter and still be considered a no-kill shelter.
The Michigan Humane is a private, non-profit organization providing animal welfare and sheltering services to the metropolitan Detroit area. Events at Michigan Humane are featured in the Animal Planet channel's reality television series Animal Cops: Detroit.
The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) is a volunteer-based, non-government organization whose goal is to prevent animal cruelty through education, animal sheltering and advocacy, based in Quezon City, Philippines. It was founded in 1954 by Muriel Jay. PAWS believes that the creation of a more peaceful society starts with the widening of mankind's circle of compassion which includes animals, thereby envisions a nation that respects animals, practices responsible pet ownership and protects wildlife. The volunteer-based organization rehabilitates these animals in the hope of finding them new homes and a second chance at a good life. PAWS does not take in pets of other people, but only victims of cruelty or neglect where the animal offenders are charged with violation of the Animal Welfare Act in court.
Emily Appleton was an American philanthropist and animal welfare activist from Boston who provided financial support for the foundation of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 1868.
Nevins Farm and Equine Center, also known as MSPCA at Nevins Farm and the Methuen Animal Care and Adoption Center at Nevins Farm, is an animal shelter and veterinary hospital in Methuen, Massachusetts operated by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Part of the 55-acre (22 ha) property is devoted to Hillside Acre Animal Cemetery, a 4-acre (1.6 ha) animal cemetery.
Harriet Francoeur Nevins was an American philanthropist and animal welfare advocate born in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Widow of David Nevins Jr., she used her inheritance to leave a legacy to the people of the Bay State. She died November 14, 1929, at her home in Methuen, Massachusetts.
San Diego Humane Society, is a non-profit organization in San Diego, California with five campuses in San Diego County - El Cajon, Escondido, Oceanside, San Diego and Ramona. They are an open-admission shelter and are zero euthanasia for healthy and treatable shelter animals. The organization's programs include sheltering and adopting animals, humane law enforcement, practicing and advancing the field of Shelter Medicine, rescuing animals in emergency situations, wildlife rehabilitation, the country's first 24/7 kitten nursery, positive reinforcement behavior training, providing adult and youth education programs, providing free pet food and supplies to families in need, sharing animals through pet-assisted therapy and more. San Diego Humane Society provides animal services for 14 cities in San Diego County and cares for nearly 50,000 animals a year.
The Richmond SPCA is an idependent non-profit animal shelter in Richmond, Virginia founded in 1891.
The Berkshire Humane Society (BHS) is a private non-profit humane organization in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Founded in 1992, BHS is an open admissions shelter. The humane society operates animal welfare services and pet adoption facilities in Pittsfield and Great Barrington.
The Humane Society of Harford County, Inc. (HSHC) is a nonprofit open admission animal shelter located in Fallston, Maryland, contracted with the Harford County Government to provide sheltering services for all animals brought to HSHC by Animal Control as stray, or subjects of animal cruelty or neglect cases.
Jean Holzworth was an American veterinarian known for her work in feline medicine. She initially acquired a doctorate in Latin and taught at Mount Holyoke College, before retraining in veterinary medicine in the 1940s. Between 1950 and 1986 she practiced at the Angell Memorial Animal Hospital in Boston, specializing in the care of cats. She was among the first to document a number of disorders affecting the species, including feline infectious peritonitis and hyperthyroidism, and was editor of the well-regarded 1987 book Diseases of the Cat.
↑ Campbell, Karen (2015). "Breaking new ground". Angell at 100: A Century of Compassionate Care for Animals and their Families at Angell Animal Medical Center. New York, NY: Lamprey & Lee. ISBN978-1-00-015467-2.
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